29 DAYS TO GO | EFNL Media will be previewing each club ahead of the 2020 season with the #InFocus2020 series, all thanks to Yarra Valley Water & Choose Tap.
By: Daniel Cencic
MONTROSE captain Brendan Gardoll says his side is looking to reset and become ‘the hunted’ in Division 1 this year.
The Demons were relegated from Premier Division at the end of last season following just one win, which came against North Ringwood in Round 17.
Despite the club’s win-loss ratio and ladder position at the end of 2019, last season saw Montrose lose six matches by 30 points or under, including two by under three goals.
Eventual-premier Vermont (Round 3), Doncaster (Round 4, 13), Rowville (Round 7), North Ringwood (Round 8) and South Croydon (Round 18) were all sides the Demons pushed and Gardoll believes the final weeks of the season saw the start of a build for 2020.
Montrose coach Peter Bastinac.
“The thing with last year was it’s just such a tough competition and you’ve got to be switched on 24-7, and every game no matter what you’re playing against quality opposition,” he said.
“The big one for us is we were pretty happy with our last three rounds and we wanted to build something into the next year even knowing our fate.
“We wanted to make sure we kept the list we had and to do that we wanted to put a big showing in.
“We’ve been towelled up by South Croydon in the last couple of years and at South Croydon in the last round we pushed them and we were leading all day, just got rolled in that last quarter against the wind unfortunately.”
The club has secured the services of former Knox midfielder Rob Maibaum, who played 35 games for the Falcons across 2018-19 after seven appearances for the Northern Blues in the VFL’s now-defunct development league in 2017.
“We had a bit of a scratch-match and Rob’s really impressed me,” Gardoll said.
“I played on him a few years ago in Premier – he’s just got a really good footy brain, he’s going to be so good for our ball-movement, the way he uses the footy, he attracts a lot of the ball through the middle of the ground.
“He’s going to be a good player for us and I think he’s just going to be what we need to help our ball movement be that little bit slicker.”
The Demons will also look to utilise young guns James Schickerling, Dean Curnow and Ben Shilte who return after being listed for the Eastern Ranges in 2019, along with Beau Tennant who played three matches for the NAB League under-18 outfit last year on top of 15 appearances for Montrose.
The prospect of teenager Bailey White on a regular basis after two years at the Ranges has excited the Demons’ skipper, off the back of five senior appearances in the red and blue last season.
“The games we got out of him last year, he really showed with his pack-marking and his ability to score, so we’re looking forward to having him for a full season,” Gardoll said.
“It’s going to be exciting to see what he can bring. The way he’s training at the moment, I would hate to be playing on him.”
Meanwhile, 2019 under-17A premiership players Max Hall, Hugh Basset and Ben Johnson have all been named in the Eastern Ranges’ under-18 NAB League squad for 2020.
Supporting Gardoll on the leadership front this season will be Andrew Haining and James Wilsen as vice-captains, with the 2013 Chandler medallist Haining set to make a statement in Division 1 according to the skipper.
“He (Haining) is the barometer for our team – when he’s up and about, we’re in control of games of footy,” Gardoll said.
“I’d be worried if I were a ruckman this year – they’re going to have their work cut out for them.”
The Demons last played in the second tier of the competition in 2013, when they earned promotion to the top-flight after winning the flag that season.
Gardoll says six seasons in the League’s top tier will hold his side in good stead as they take on a new division.
“We’ve been relegated, and rightfully or wrongfully we’re sitting at the top of this division at the moment, that’s just the way it’s structured,” he said.
“We want to bring our Premier Division mentality to first division. Finals is the expectation, but we’re going from the hunters (and) we want to be hunted.
“It’s going to be a big year for the club.”
Montrose begins its season hosting Upper Ferntree Gully on Saturday, April 4.
